The Author and The Digital Craftsman

Abstract

This thesis addresses the possible need to redefine authorship as a result of the influx of creative material produced on, and for, new media and digital technologies. As it seemed that authorship as an ideological concept had become ill equipped to describe and address the unique creators that are responsible for this material. In order to understand the differences between the concept of contemporary authorship and these new types of creators the origins of contemporary (western) authorship needed to be situated by creating a historical overview that focuses on the interplay of the different domains that have come to form this concept of the author. Doing this shows that our contemporary vision on authorship functions according to three basic requirements: originality, individualism and ownership. These requirements will turn out to be not based on a higher artistic or philosophical truth but have formed as result of changes within media technologies, culture, economics and law. The way in which the new digital creators interact with the existing creative material available to them is very different. Not only are the three requirements of authorship not met, they are essentially opposed. As the creative practices of these users exhibit a constant stream of collaboratively created remixes of existing material that no one claims to own. Surprisingly, they exhibit more similar traits to that of the seventeenth century craftsman then to the contemporary author. It becomes apparent the concept of authorship should not be used to define the practice of artistic creation. Rather, artistic creation as a transformative concept should define itself. Additionally, media academics are in an important position to acknowledge these new media craftsmen and ensure they remain able to reinvent creativity without legal opposition.